Too Much Protein

[swangswang]

I regularly drink protein shakes that can contain up to 60-70 grams of protein. I have been told I should only take in roughly 40 grams of protein at a time and the rest will just be wasted, is this true? It is hard to get a gram of protein for every pound of body mass I have if i dont take in alot at once.

 

[Rodja]

I regularly drink protein shakes that can contain up to 60-70 grams of protein. I have been told I should only take in roughly 40 grams of protein at a time and the rest will just be wasted, is this true? It is hard to get a gram of protein for every pound of body mass I have if i dont take in alot at once.

How much do you weigh?

 

[rippedforce63]

Its not hard at all to get in 1gm per lb of bodyweight, start there and see how your body responds. I personally see my best results are 1.5gm's per lb of weight. Don't negelect your healthy fats and complex carbs in the process of getting the extra protein in your diet though.

 

[swangswang]

193

 

[Ziricote]

Definatly taking in too much if you're regularly having 60-70g protein shakes. For a start you should limit your protein intake to around 1g/lb upto around 1.5g/lb and then try to limit protein shake intake, whole foods are better the majority of the time. The only times I would go upto 60g of protein would be post-workout and 60g of casein before bed.

 

[pistonpump]

Its simple. Your problem is you arent having enough meals spaced out. Instead of taking 60grams at once take 30grams 2x and so on. Instead of having three meat meals have 5....I get what you are saying on it being tough to get a gram per pound but think of the guys that are nearing 300lbs. I think 1 gram of protien to 1 lb of bw is the minimum you should shoot for. You can do it if you dedicate your self enough. egg whites are a quick, cheap, easy source of protien too

 

[alan aragon]

I regularly drink protein shakes that can contain up to 60-70 grams of protein. I have been told I should only take in roughly 40 grams of protein at a time and the rest will just be wasted, is this true? It is hard to get a gram of protein for every pound of body mass I have if i dont take in alot at once.

Don't worry about it, you're fine. Whether or not protein is "wasted" or not depends on a ton of factors, none of which are likely in the case of the typical bodybuilding protocol. One thing is certain though. If the common folklore was true that you can only use 40g protein at a time, then you would be able to force someone into protein deficiency if you fed him 3 chicken breasts on two separate occasions per day. I mean after all, he'd only be absorbing the protein from 2 of the 6 breasts right? Yeah, right .

 

[pistonpump]

Don't worry about it, you're fine. Whether or not protein is "wasted" or not depends on a ton of factors, none of which are likely in the case of the typical bodybuilding protocol. One thing is certain though. If the common folklore was true that you can only use 40g protein at a time, then you would be able to force someone into protein deficiency if you fed him 3 chicken breasts on two separate occasions per day. I mean after all, he'd only be absorbing the protein from 2 of the 6 breasts right? Yeah, right .

See I think that is different. Your body is going to take a while to digest real foods, so in a sense its not uptaking the protien all at once. The protien threshold theory probably was meant when talking about protien powders other than casein like taking 60grams of whey in one serving. Unless your body was starved of protien i highly doubt it would absorb all 60grams. Probably piss it out. I do agree with it depending on numerous factors tho'

 

[alan aragon]

See I think that is different. Your body is going to take a while to digest real foods, so in a sense its not uptaking the protien all at once. The protien threshold theory probably was meant when talking about protien powders other than casein like taking 60grams of whey in one serving. Unless your body was starved of protien i highly doubt it would absorb all 60grams. Probably piss it out. I do agree with it depending on numerous factors tho'

On the note of numerous factors, the metabolic fate of dietary protein is HIGHLY dynamic. And true, it varies according to the type of protein, be it powdered or animal flesh & the subtypes thereof.

But in the particular case of the body not being able to absorb 60g whey unless you're fasted, I think there's more to that bit of discussion. Unless you're truly fasted upon waking, there's always gonna be 'previous meal overlap' regarding absorption of the macros, unless your feeding frequency is 3x/d or less. With the typically high meal frequency in BB protocols the only true postabsorptive state is upon waking. Does this mean that 60g of whey in a single shot should be avoided elsewhere? I don't agree. Let's imagine a 200 lber is dieting down for a show, cutting carbs low, & taking in 300g protein/d (1.5g/lb). If you were to really nitpick & match intake with demand, it would actually benefit to have a 60g hit postW when protein turnover (the cycle of synthesis & degradation) is markedly higher than at any other point in the day. Heck if you want, you can have the other 240g at 6 other points in the day consisting of 40g hits.

I understand that we're batting around theoretics, & much of this stuff hasnt been measured, & thus the conjecture continues, so bear with me. I still think that assuming specific limits on absorption doesn't have enough basis. All protein gets absorbed. Whether it gets put to use for LBM accretion depends on a lot of factors. If it isn't used to create new lean tissue, the other possible scenarios are it's either oxidized for energy or stored as fat. This will depend on yet more variables, not the least of which is training state, acute & chronic energy balance, etc, etc.

 

[CHAPS]

I personally would split it up a bit more if i were you but if your finding your not putting on extra fat form it or anything like that then your fine. I've gone as high as 80g's per meal with no ill effects or anything.

 

[swangswang]

Thanks for so much input. I normally only drink more than 40 grams of protein post work out and upon waking up, I just didnt want the extra protein im taking in to be stored as fat which hasnt been the case so far.

 

[CHAPS]

Well if it's not being stored then more power to ya. That's such bull about only being able to use 40g's of protein at a time, bodybuilders have showed this is a myth time and time again.

 

[MakaveliThaDon]

Peole used to tell me that ALL the time that you need to limit your shakes and meal intakes to about 40g per meal. But i made so much better gains when i started adding in another scoop and going about 70g per meal or shake. Especially if your taking supps to help out your protein synthesis rate.

 

[gazdecki]

Especially if your taking supps to help out your protein synthesis rate.

Like steroids?

 

[pistonpump]

LOL hahahaha of course not.

 

[smarble]

A health proffessional told me that the body would absorb about 30g of protein per hour. Anything over 30 within an hour is wasted. That is one reason meals are spread out through the day.

 

[MakaveliThaDon]

A health proffessional told me that the body would absorb about 30g of protein per hour. Anything over 30 within an hour is wasted. That is one reason meals are spread out through the day.

How big was this "health professional"

 

[hurdlemaker]

i usually keep my shakes around 50grams of protein a piece

 

[swangswang]

Lately I have been takin around 60 grams upon waking, 35 after w/o's and 35 before bed and have been leaning out a bit.